The invention relates to a fresh air supply device disposed in a motor vehicle and installed in a compartment provided for accessories and having two closure walls lying spaced apart in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and formed by an engine compartment partition and a front passenger compartment partition. The compartment also has side parts formed by side parts of the vehicle body. The accessories compartment is covered over by a swivelable hood forming between it and the adjoining windscreen a gap through which fresh air flows to an upper casing part which is constructed as a component unit and with which are associated, in addition to a water separator, a coarse filter and a fine filter which is adapted to be removed in the upward direction. The upper casing part is disposed on a lower casing part equipped with a blower.
A fresh air supply device of this general kind is known from German Pat. No. (DE PS) 33 30 951, in which the two casing parts constitute independent, functionally unconnected parts, while the upper casing part in particular takes up a great deal of space and is complicated to install.
The problems underlying the invention are that of providing a fresh air supply device which is in the form of a constructional unit comprising compact, functionally cooperating regions, and which is simple to service and in addition is also simple to install.
The present invention solves these problems by providing an arrangement wherein the engine compartment partition and the front passenger compartment partition are connected together in the center of the vehicle by means of a frame in which is suspended from above a bottom trough-like casing part which is equipped with the blower and is merely supported by means of seals on the front passenger compartment partition, wherein a water separator, which forms an integral component part of the upper casing part disposed thereon, partly surrounds by its collecting vessel and by two water outlets leading away therefrom, an upwardly projecting connection piece holding the fine filter.
Short diversion paths with intensive separation, together with easy access to the fine filter, are achieved if the fine filter is covered by a removable air scoop which carries the coarse filter on the air inlet side in certain preferred constructions.
A compact construction is obtained if the fine filter is followed on the connection piece side by a flap arrangement which shield by means of a holder mounted on the outside of the connection piece and operated by a drive unit covered over by the scoop according to certain preferred embodiments.
As a further development of certain embodiments of the invention, the collecting vessel is provided with side cutouts in which water collection channels extending almost to the windscreen pillars are suspended.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.